Choose the right word

labor, drudgery, grind, toil, travail, work

Most people have to work for a living, meaning that they have to exert themselves mentally or physically in return for a paycheck. But work is not always performed by humans (a machine that works like a charm). Labor is not only human but usually physical work (the labor required to build a stone wall), although it can also apply to intellectual work of unusual difficulty (the labor involved in writing a symphony). Anyone who has been forced to perform drudgery knows that it is the most unpleasant, uninspiring, and monotonous kind of labor (a forklift that eliminates the drudgery of stacking boxes; the drudgery of compiling a phone book). A grind is even more intense and unrelenting than drudgery, emphasizing work that is performed under pressure in a dehumanizing way (the daily grind of classroom teaching). Toil suggests labor that is prolonged and very tiring (farmers who toil endlessly in the fields), but not necessarily physical (mothers who toil to teach their children manners). Those who travail endure pain, anguish, or suffering (his hours of travail ended in heartbreak).